Digits: July 2016

I had my last long run of this training cycle yesterday. It was 10 miles of Cheslen Hills followed by a 2 hour hike, where I added 7 more miles to my daily tally. I typically do my longest training run 3 weeks out from my goal race and then cut my long run way back 2 weeks out. I’ve done 10 miles in both of my last 2 training cycles and so that’s what I had scheduled again this time. I decided to add the extra 2 hours of hiking immediately afterwards maybe a month or so ago. I’ve always thought 3 weeks was too long to taper, but 2 weeks seemed too short as well. 2.5 weeks would probably be perfect, but I’ll never be able to get a 6-7 hour run done mid-week so that’s never going to happen. I think (hope?) I’ve found a better balance with the run/long walk combo. I ended up spending about 4 hours on my feet, however was entirely comfortable the entire time.

Well, that’s not entirely true. My feet got a little sore for a while there as I was hiking along. Not when I was pounding up and down the hills, but as I was ambling along on easier terrain. What the heck? I also thought I felt a blister forming, however nothing showed up when I checked things out after the run. Just when I think I have my body figured out, I realize it’s more mysterious than ever. Now that I’m officially in taper mode, it’s only a matter of time before something random starts hurting for no reason. It always happens.

Below are my digits for July, which was all about the vert. My 27k of total ascent and 166 feet per mile were both personal bests beating 23k last September and 152 ft/mile last month. I did as much climbing as I possibly could. Now all I can do is hope it’s enough to get me through ES100. I was also pleased to set another sit-up record during the month. I lost a bit of motivation later in the month so most of my other supplemental numbers are down a smidge from June. Still relatively high compared to where I’ve been in the past so I am by no means unhappy. I’m still disappointed my sleep is still hovering right around 8 hours. I don’t know what the deal is, but I seem to keep shorting myself 30-45 minutes most nights. I would like to be a little over 8.5 hours, but keep posting too many sub-8 hour nights. Hopefully, I can get closer to 9 hours over the next 2 weeks as I’m going to need it come the 13th.